Pirates of the Caribbean: The Return
by USAcrewgrl
Summary: If Bootstrap Bill sent away the coin, wasn't he cursed also, living between life and death forever. But when he finds out the curse has been lifted will he go after the boy he abandoned long ago.


The Pirates of the Caribbean  
  
The Return  
  
His eyes blinked open, then shut quickly once again. This time the man opened his eyelids more slowly, allowing them to get accustomed to the bright sun that flowed through the open window. The light was not the only thing that escaped into his room through the gaping window, a scent find it's way into the man's abode, one that was all too familiar to the person lying on the bed. The sea breeze's salty smell was one that welcomed the man into each new day, the one that the man lived for each day.  
  
The bed creaked ever so slightly as the man sat up, swinging his still sleepy legs over the edge of the queen sized bed. He used his arms to help stand up from the place he felt like he had just retired to. But at that standing position, the man paused; he looked around the room as if to ask where he was and how he got there. The location of his whereabouts, however, was not what brought the confused expression on the man's face, it was how he felt. The man felt wide awake and his old joints not as stiff as they easily were when he awoke from his slumber. Anyone else would of not questioned the feeling of having just had a good night's sleep but this person looked at his reflection in the mirror as if it were a new person that were staring back at him.  
  
"O' well, I suppose even the eternally damned hav' th' right to feel rested once in a while," the man murmured slightly to himself as he pulled his pants on. They hung loosely on him and obvious age shone through the few small rips and threads hanging down at the bottom of their cuffs. Next came a white shirt that had seen better days and over the garment went a weathered jacket that might had been a nice colored brown at one time but now it was just an ugly, dull, mud color.  
  
Now the man was ready for his busy day, he chuckled to himself at that thought. 'It may be a hard workin' day but it will not be one that I will fail to enjoy,' he thought to himself as he walked across his small cabin and down the steps that were located next to the exit of his room.  
  
When he swung the door open the sea breeze engulfed his nostrils and the shouts of his men, his pirates, filled his ears and he smiled his happy life. The man turned directly to his right and headed down the next flight of stairs that lead to the mess. It's not like he needed to eat, he just liked the cook, she was pretty dashing for a rugged pirate girl. "Hey darlin' what be the verdict for th' day?" he asked, laying his arms on the bar and smiling at her.   
  
"The same as always Cap," Tanya said leaning on the bar, next to her Captain. He came in every morning and asked if she would basically like to be his little toy and she always refused. Believing firmly in the no attachment rule for fellow crewmates.  
  
"Aww, that be a shame, but I suppose it be for the bette'," he responded as he resumed a straight standing position. It was then that he got an odd feeling his stomach, one that was familiar, yet at the same time, one he hadn't felt for a long time. It was the pain of hunger and he stared, confused, at the floor for a second, trying to find out what was happening to him. 'First it be a feelin' of rest and now it be one of hunger,' he thought to himself.  
  
"Somethin wrong Cap?" she asked, a little concerned at the odd expression he was displaying.  
  
"No, no, nothin at all. It's just I be a wee bit hungry, could you fix me somethin'," he asked, now sitting down at the bar.  
  
Tanya looked at her leader real quick, trying to find out if he was joking but his face showed no signs of it so she reached around and scooped out a bowl of what was suppose to be oatmeal and gave it to the captain.  
  
He looked at the bowl for a second before starting to eat, and then he felt another weird sensation; he could actually taste the food in his mouth and its warmth. It was then he ate greedily and before he knew it the bowl was finished, hardly anything was remaining. "Thank ya, it was quite good," he told Tanya before he strode out of the mess area and onto the deck.  
  
Tanya looked after him, a bit confused. She knew, as well as any of the crew, of the curse and she was now beginning to wonder if it had been lifted. Whether that had entered the mind of the captain or not, she could not tell.  
  
He walked out onto the deck of his ship, The Golden Gem, and surveyed the scene. He tried to forget what he had just experienced down their and in his cabin but when he felt the slight chill run down his spine, he could no longer ignore that nagging idea that was beginning to immerge from his mind. 'Maybe the curse has been lifted,' he thought too himself. 'No that's crazy,' he told his mind, letting the idea drift out of his head completely.  
  
His eyes scanned the boat and smiled at the sight of his crew working hard on the boat, making sure that their journey went smoothly. The spray of the waves could be seen splashing against the bow as the boat cut through the dark, blue abyss of the ocean. The sails were straining at their ropes as the wind blew into them hard. The deck gleamed from its recent scrubbing and his crew members were busy at heir respective jobs.   
  
"This is the life for me," he said quietly to himself, barely whispering. The salty wind blew trough his short, dark brown hair and his jacket felt like wings that had just grown on him, wanting to take him high up into the sky. Once again, another long, forgotten sensation was coursing through his body and he once again contemplated on the possibility of the curse being removed. The thing that proved to him that the infamous curse had been lifted was the act of his first mate, John Unip.   
  
First Mate Unip lightly punched his captain on the shoulder in order to get his attention. "Where to Cat'in, the last of the cargo was unloaded last night, we decided to he'd south 'bout an hour 'go."  
  
The Captain did not turn around at first, because he felt the oddest feeling. Just a slight, barely noticeable, dull feeling of pain, but it sure confirmed his thinking of the curse. 'It is lifted, it's actually lifted, I can't believe it,' he thought excitedly.   
  
"Cap? You a'right?" Unip asked him, concerned with the weird look that was presented on his captain's face.   
  
"What, yeah, I'm alright. What you want?" he asked as he turned around to look John in his face. A big smile was spread across his face and he was suddenly feeling a whole lot better than just two seconds ago.  
  
"Where too, we been headin south for the past hour," First Mate Unip said, relived to find his captain alright.  
  
He was about to say 'continue on course' but then he thought of what must of made the curse disappear. That could only mean one thing, he thought as he sifted through his memory banks, remembering what he had done to keep the horrid thing of ever being removed. I must find them, find out what happened. "I think we might be requiring a change o' direction, Unip, brings us around to port, we be a headin for Port Royal."  
  
"Yes, Cap'in," John said as he set about to prepare for their new direction.  
  
We are heading to see an old aquiantance of mine. 'I have much too find out,' Captain Bootstrap Bill said as he walked up the short flight of steps that led to the helm of his ship. A slight grin was on his face but his mind was dark with the thought of how the curse was lifted. 'That would require the killing of a certain someone,' he thought before trying to forget about it until the time came. 


End file.
